Druid - Moving fromt he summoner to the caster

[studderingdave]

So in my current campaign I built a druid, one of my staple classes when playing. We started at 4th and I went with a human summoner build abusing Augmented/Greenbound summoning to the point og getting "those looks" from both my DM and the other party members. It also doesnt help that my DM was open to me starting my background in Chult, thus giving me access to Fleshrakers as an AC. He didn't see the problem until my AC one rounded a high level encounter for us with the assist from Venomfire.

I am 6th level now with the XP to level but waiting for the time to train ( we have to train to gain levels every other level). Our DM (the dame DM we have had for over 20 years) is getting wary of my summoning tricks, and while he will not outright bar me or ban abilities, he will use tricks to hinder my abilities. I figure I should be changing more role at least a little bit into more of a caster/support piece. I am looking for advice for doing this.

Also, the other characters in my party are a human cleric 4th of mystra and a elf cleric of corellon 6th who fancies himself as an archer. We also have a long standing hired NPC dwarf fighter who is quite good as hitting things. 

[wotmaniac]

As a show of good will, I'd offer to nerf GBS and VF:
1) GBS: as per the feat's author, it was meant to be a +2 MM feat,
2) VF: tamp down the damage to d6 per 2 levels (this is total houserule territory, but it certainly seems like a reasonable accommodation)

Also, druids are f'n AWESOME at BFC and root-dot -- it's kinda what they do.  You can blindly grab your spells out of a bucket, and at least half of them will fill the role you're looking for.

[studderingdave]

i have already tried to nerf my abilities but we tend to avoid house rules and such. I was just looking for some advice as far as possible advances in spellcasting.

[wotmaniac]

Here's some nifty combos.
Also, don't forget your wild shape.  Sure, the fighter might get obviated, but he's just a hireling, so who cares.  You did take Natural Spell, right?

BTW, have you looked at the handbook?
I wasn't kidding when I said that you can literally just grab spells at random and be awesome at non-SNA casting (especially if your random-grab pool is the limited list in the handbook).
Seriously -- druid builds and plays itself; you're just along for the ride.

[Nunkuruji]

If you're drawing some ire from stealing the show from players...

I'm not sure how you're using your summons, but if you're not already, summon less offensive and more defensive type of summons to soak hits or grapple, so your fellow players are the ones to enjoy the offensive hits against enemies.

There are a lot of other fun spells you can pair with your AC, rather than taking the obvious VF combo. Look around, build a list, and switch it up every day.

[ZombieGirl]

Well, you certainly didnt hold back when making that summoner druid, making use of GBS and venomfire XD. But, at least you aren't casting conjure ice beast

In truth though, if you're getting 'those looks' that means you're showing off way too much and should just cut back on your more powerful aspects of your character. Do you reeally need a fleshraker with venomfire on him? Do your greenbound summons really need to use wall of thorns and entangle repeatedly? Just cut back on the cheese and you wont have to change anything. When playing a powerful character, its the player's responsibility to wait things out and gauge the overall power of the rest of his group, then unleash the appropriate power to match. Those who don't tend to end up in the emergency from a critical hit with the DMG.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Elf Cleric can be a better Archer. 
There's even a Quickstart Cleric Archer guide, on handbooks.

Human Mystra Cleric "wants" to be a wizard, so let him.

You can easily limit yourself, as already posted, with near
random spells, and more limited by being the party healer.

I prefer someone in the party to have Craft Universal at level 3.
So now you're the party crafter too. 
Heck you can blow a summon or two, on out-of-combat.

You + AC + summonS = way too much action economy advantage,
for your homegame.  OK then adapt.

[eggynack]

Being a caster druid has a lot less to do with the build side of things, and a lot more to do with just, y'know, preparing and casting powerful spells. You can keep your entire build exactly as it is now, but just tend towards spontaneous conversion on a less frequent basis. Maybe you can head into the holt warden+contemplative double dip combo, which grants access to the domain of your choice, along with the slots to use them. A big problem here is that offering serious advice along these lines could push you down paths even more broken than the one you're on now. Like, using hathran+acorn of far travel to cast spontaneously off the entire druid list, and aberration wild shape+nilshai form+enhance wild shape to do that twice every round. Such is the fate of druids, ever-burdened with awesomeness.